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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. snap — to click
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. content — the amount
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. drill — a practice
  7. track — a song
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. stock — goods
  10. drill — army training
  11. hand — help
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. stock — shares
  14. drill — the tool
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. mine — for digging
  17. content — happy
  18. hand — in cards
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. track — a path
  21. track — to keep track
  22. tube — the underground
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. tube — a container

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com